As noted earlier, the NHL is now in it’s two-day Christmas break, in which no practices are allowed. The Kings will be back on the ice Monday at 10 a.m. for a morning skate in advance of that night’s home game against Phoenix (a 7 p.m. start). It’s been a busy couple weeks — you [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – The Kings’ offensive struggles continued, but they earned one point with a 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks on Friday night at HP Pavilion. – The Kings fell to 1-0-1 under new coach Darryl Sutter. – The Kings have now scored two or fewer regulation goals [...]

Moral victories mean nothing in the standings, but the Kings played a far better game against San Jose than the Sharks’ recent opponents. The Sharks had scored a total of 15 goals in their previous three games, but thanks largely to the efforts of goalie Jonathan Quick, the Sharks were held to one goal. Bottom [...]

First, a reminder that the NHL is now in its mandatory two-day Christmas break, so there will be no Kings practice today or tomorrow. That leaves the Kings to think about the past couple games, and where they’re headed. They’re 2-0-1 in their last three games but still aren’t scoring enough goals in order to [...]

Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts… (on the game…) SUTTER: “The teams were creating chances both ways in the third period. I thought we got a little bit better as the game went along. I thought we had a really good third period.’’ (on the Kings’ effort, in back-to-back games…) SUTTER: “The NHL is about back-to-back games. [...]

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on the team putting together better efforts…) 
BROWN: “That’s the plan. We got a big point. The power play came through and got us a big goal and Quicker was pretty strong all night, made some big saves and kept us in the game. We had our opportunities, and we ended [...]

Will the Kings get a shiny new bicycle tonight, or a lump of coal? It’s the Kings and the San Jose Sharks, with all the action on Fox Sports West and on 1150-AM and affiliates, and with all the game action here as well… OVERTIME In goal: It’s still Quick against Niemi. SHOOTOUT Sharks: Pavelski, [...]

This is the third of six meetings this season between the Kings and San Jose Sharks, with the Kings holding a 1-1-0 record so far. The Sharks have been an interesting team this season. From mid-October to late November, they had a 12-2-1 run. They followed that by going 2-5-2 in their next nine games, [...]

The Kings face off against an old friend tonight, as they meet the San Jose Sharks and veteran center Michal Handzus. Handzus spent four seasons with the Kings before he signed with the Sharks as a free agent last summer. Handzus’ stats this season haven’t been overwhelming — three goals and 11 assists in 30 [...]

The previous item alluded to Darryl Sutter’s connection to San Jose, and his frequent trips back here as a member of the Calgary organization. There was a direct tie there. Sutter was fired by San Jose (and by Dean Lombardi) 24 games into the 2002-03 season, but was quickly grabbed by the Flames, whom he [...]

Tonight’s game is a bit of a homecoming for Darryl Sutter, who coached in San Jose from 1997-2002. Even if Sutter was the sentimental type — one doesn’t exactly get that impression — this game wouldn’t really call for any special sentimentality. Sutter has been back to San Jose a number of times in the [...]

For those who didn’t catch it live during Darryl Sutter’s introductory press conference on Wednesday, here’s the “double peace sign” that Sutter dropped on the media at the end of questions. For anyone wondering, Sutter has been nothing but pleasant and helpful with the media in his first couple days. Then again, he’s also 1-0 [...]

How did Darryl Sutter celebrate his first victory as Kings coach? By nearly hog-tying his backup goalie. I watched Sutter on the bench, to see his reaction after the shootout, and as the players left the bench to high-five each other on the ice, Sutter grabbed Bernier by the back of his jersey, just after [...]

A dozen Kings went through an optional morning skate, but Darryl Sutter declined to say who his goalie would be tonight or if he would make any lineup changes. “This isn’t baseball,” Sutter said. Jonathan Bernier was the only goalie on the ice, which could mean that Jonathan Quick is starting or simply that Bernier [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – The Kings began the Darryl Sutter era with a win, as they beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday night at Staples Center. – Jarret Stoll scored in the first round of the shootout and Dustin Brown scored the winner in the third round. Kings [...]

The tough times continue for the Anaheim Ducks, who are now 2-6-2 under new coach Bruce Boudreau and are 0-9-4 in their last 13 road games. On the other hand, the Ducks have earned six points under Boudreau, and three of them have come against the Kings. Here’s how The Orange County Register covered last [...]

Holiday season? The Kings have games on Dec. 22, 23, 26, 28 and 19. Ho, ho, ho. And, how will they respond tonight, playing on a second consecutive night, against a tough division opponent, a night after they expended a lot of emotion and energy in coach Darryl Sutter’s debut. We’ll find out soon. Sutter [...]

“It’s a 3-2 league,” new coach Darryl Sutter said during his introductory press conference. Less than 36 hours later, the Kings and the Anaheim Ducks proved Sutter correct. The Kings started strong, lost a third-period lead and then survived an overtime penalty kill before they won in a shootout. What was the key aspect of [...]

Mike Richards’ postgame thoughts… (on how he felt tonight…) RICHARDS: “I felt good. A little tired at the end of the game there, but I think that’s just two weeks of not taking a hit or giving a hit or battling much. It was a good game for me. I felt good coming back, and [...]

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on the win…) BROWN: “I don’t care how we do it. Right now it’s about getting points. That’s the most important. Secondly, we’re starting to put some good games together.’’ (on his shootout goal…) 
BROWN: “I’ve been struggling, maybe the last year and a half, on my shootouts, so I’ve just [...]